Wisp (Sonic)
are fictional extraterrestrial creatures in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. They debuted in the Wii/Nintendo DS game Sonic Colors in 2010, where Sonic can use them as power-ups. Over the course of the game, he rescues other Wisps from villain Doctor Eggman, who plans to use them for a mind control ray. Different forms of Wisps give Sonic different abilities, such as drilling underground, rolling along walls and ceilings, and blasting to extreme heights. The creatures originate from a planet called Planet Wisp, speak a unique language, and exhibit various personalities and powers. Wisps were added to Sonic Colors to offer alternate gameplay styles without adding other playable characters, and to encourage players to explore levels more than once. They have since appeared in two other Sonic games and a comic book based on Colors, and Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka now considers them a staple in the series. The creatures and their integration into Sonic gameplay have received mixed reviews; generally, critics have praised the variety of gameplay styles they create but criticized some control and pacing issues. Creation and characteristics The Wisps are a race of extraterrestrial creatures who live on a grassy, lush planet called Planet Wisp. The mother of all Wisps is a much larger, pink one named Mother Wisp. She created Planet Wisp and raised all of her children. Wisps speak a common language that Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails cannot understand, though Tails builds a translation device in the game Sonic Colors. Their Japanese and English name comes from Tails' translation of a word in their language; other characters in the game simply refer to them as "aliens". Wisps are composed of an energy force called "Hyper-go-ons", which they can use to phase into the body of playable protagonist Sonic and give him temporary elemental powers. They come in numerous breeds, each carrying one of many elemental powers known as "Color Powers". When Sonic collects a Wisp, he can use its power once at will; however, he can only carry one at a time. Takashi Iizuka, head of Sonic Colors development studio Sonic Team, stated in an interview that the Wisps were added to the game to "expand and strengthen the platform action gameplay" without forcing the player to switch to other playable characters. Another goal was to encourage players to revisit already-played levels; Sonic Team accomplished this by adding segments requiring certain types of Wisps to levels preceding their first appearances. Sonic Team has been pleased with the Wisps' popularity in Colors, and Iizuka has said that he now considers them a staple in the Sonic series. Types There are numerous types of Wisps, each with its own special ability. Colors introduced ten types between the Wii and Nintendo DS versions of the game; some only appear in one version. For example, Purple Wisps, whose "Frenzy" ability turns Sonic into a difficult-to-control demon that can chomp through obstacles, is exclusive to the Wii version, but Violet Wisps, which scale up Sonic's density to black hole-like levels and causes him to absorb enemies, obstacles, and rings, appear only in the DS version. However, others appear in both versions, such as Yellow Wisps, which allow Sonic to drill underground and find otherwise inaccessible areas. Sonic Lost World, a 2013 game for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, introduced more types of Wisps while keeping some old types. Among these are Magenta Wisps, which bounce Sonic across paths of musical notes by having the player tap them on the Wii U's touch screen, and Black Wisps, which turn Sonic into a bomb that can roll over enemies and explode. The Sonic Colors manual describes each type of Wisp as having a different power and general personality; for example, Cyan Wisps, which allow Sonic to bounce off surfaces, are scatterbrained and energetic, while Orange Wisps, which blast him rapidly into the air, have fluctuating and explosive emotions. Appearances In Sonic Colors, antagonist Doctor Eggman builds an amusement park spanning the Wisps' planets under the pretense of making up for past transgressions. Suspicious, Sonic and Tails investigate and rescue two Wisps from Eggman's henchmen Orbot and Cubot. One of them, a talkative male White Wisp named Yacker, tags along with Sonic and Tails during the game. When Tails builds a translator, Yacker tells them that Eggman is capturing Wisps; it turns out that he is converting them to a corrupted, purple state to fuel a mind control ray and control the universe. Sonic frees Wisps from their confines in each level, then uses several of them to defeat Eggman at the end of the game. However, Eggman's mind control cannon malfunctions and creates a black hole, which sucks Sonic in until the Wisps combine their power to pull him out and neutralize the black hole. Yacker frees the remaining Wisps, reverts them from their corrupted form, thanks Sonic and Tails, and leaves. The DS version features Mother Wisp as a post-game boss, as she was corrupted by the corrupted Wisps' Hyper-go-ons. When Sonic defeats her, she reverts to normal, expresses gratitude to Sonic and Tails, and returns to Planet Wisp with her children. Wisps have also appeared in Colors adaptations. They are usable in the level "Planet Wisp" in Sonic Generations, a game that revisits past titles in ''Sonic series history; this stage is a remake of Colors stage of the same name. The Sonic the Hedgehog comic series had a one-off Colors adaptation, in which the Wisps were featured. In Sonic Lost World, Wisps bear little impact on the game's plot but offer alternate pathways through levels. Both versions of the game require techniques such as tilting the Wii U gamepad or 3DS and tapping and drawing shapes on the touchscreen. Reception Critics have given mixed opinions toward Wisps and their integration into Sonic gameplay. IGN's Arthur Gies called them "the big addition" to Sonic Colors, outshining its polished physics and controls. Dave McComb of film magazine Empire called them "cutesy" and "strange", while John Meyer of ''Wired found them "cuddly" and Dale North of Destructoid called them "a cute little alien race". Randy Nelson from Joystiq called them "plush" and speculated that they could easily lend their image to profitable merchandise. Positive attention has been directed at the variety of Wisps available in ''Sonic Colors and Lost World and at the variety of gameplay styles they brought to the titles. Gies stated that "almost all of them add interesting quirks to Sonic's basic abilities." Reviewing the Nintendo DS version of Colors, Tim Turi from Game Informer stated that "each adds an interesting new gameplay mechanic" to the game, singling out Violet Wisps as his favorite. Turi also praised the ability to revisit old levels with Wisps unlocked afterwards, a sentiment Gies agreed with. GameSpot writer Mark Walton called them an "amusing aside" in ''Sonic Lost World. Steven Totilo of Kotaku praised Lost World s shifting gameplay pace, citing the Wisps as something that provides this. Nintendo Power s Steve Thomason identified them as "a truly interesting addition to the Sonic formula" amidst a series of missteps, and praised their "cleverly designed" variety. Thomason listed Yellow Wisps as his favorite breed and Purple Wisps as his least. Taylor Cocke of IGN praised the Wisps' variety and stated that they "fit amazingly well with the levels they're designed around." Computer and Video Games writer Chris Scullion described Wisps in Lost World as "familiar power-ups that emulate mechanics in Mario's Wii adventures" as part of a larger, ambivalent point about the game being derivative of Super Mario Galaxy. However, control and pacing aspects of the Wisps in general, as well as of individual types, have been criticized. Reviewing ''Sonic Colors for the Wii, Gies opined that "for almost every useful ability there is a complete dud" and bemoaned the controls of Pink Spikes and Purple Frenzy. Likewise, Walton criticized Crimson Eagle, whose flight powers he considered imprecise. Justin Speer from GameTrailers stated that the Wisps "don't really feel like they belong and often require you to figure out unintuitive motion controls." Hardcore Gamer Magazine s review of Lost World stated that none of the Wisps make satisfying use of the Wii U's gamepad. Chris Shilling of Eurogamer found them to "lead to clumsy touchscreen or gyro interludes that kill a level's pacing." Danny Cowan of Joystiq and Joe Skrebels from Official Nintendo Magazine thought similarly, respectively singling out Magenta Rhythm and Black Bomb. Scullion considered the Wisps to be the only "major element of Lost World that is mostly detrimental to the gameplay". See also * Chao References Category:Extraterrestrial characters in video games Category:Fictional characters with air or wind abilities Category:Fictional characters with earth or stone abilities Category:Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities Category:Fictional characters with fire or heat abilities Category:Fictional characters with gravity abilities Category:Fictional characters with nuclear or radiation abilities Category:Fictional characters who can change size Category:Fictional characters who can move at superhuman speeds Category:Fictional characters who can turn intangible Category:Fictional power sources Category:Fictional species and races Category:Sonic the Hedgehog characters Category:Video game bosses Category:Video game characters in comics Category:Video game characters introduced in 2010 Category:Video game items